Male Common Goldeneye Portrait.

[Daniel Cadieux]

These guys up here just do not come close usually, so when a cooperative one shows up then one must take advantage of the opportunity! I spent a couple of hours with this fella and its' presumable mate and I was thrilled when it started diving in front of me at point-blank range. The water here is shallow and fast-running, creating all sorts of interesting wakes on the subject...

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/1600s., f/7.1, ISO 400, natural light, handheld while lying flat on the ice, FF except cropped to 5:4 ratio from the left, some of the specular highlights on the bill and forehead spot removal-tooled out but kept a good amount in to retain the just-out-of-the-water look.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Lovely Daniel, the timing of the capture is wonderful with the water sheeting off the bill. Thank you for sharing.

[Luis Patacao]

Hi Daniel, very nice eye contact and detail. The water really adds up to the picture.

[Marina Scarr]

This is top notch, Daniel. Love the water/waves and all the details in those head feathers.

[Bill Dix]

You certainly did capture the wet look. Great timing, beautiful color and detail, perfect exposure. This is a species we don't get very often around here.

[Eric Dienesch]

You have catched a great moment !
Thx for sharing.

Greetings Eric

[Karl Egressy]

Perfect exposure control on the subject, Daniel. Love the wake it created.
Nice details in the white and green as well.
Excellent close up, as you mentioned hardly ever happens.

[Ashleigh Scully]

That is awesome what amazing colors! Great job.

[Rob Melone]

What an awesome low angle shot Daniel! Love the detail, water and you did a great job with the whites. Super eye and contrasting background too!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely exposure and detail, great to see the water spilling off the bill.

[Holger Leyrer]

I love the eye contact and the water under the beak. Exposure control, colors and low angle are perfect. Well done, Daniel.

[gail bisson]

The iridescence is beautifully captured. Exposure is spot on. Feather detail is awesome.
I find these ducks incredibly skittish so kudos for finding this cooperative guy.
The water curtain is very pleasing as is the bow wave..
I might add about 5% canvas on the LHS, The crop seems a bit off to my eye but it is a personal preference issue.
Gail

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Daniel,

Very cooperative indeed! Glad you were there for so long to capture this image. Patience pays off. Glad you left some of the specular highlights, but really a fan of the water sheet over the bill.

"Handheld while laying flat on ice" ... why am I not surprised?! Your images are always so compelling, and I'm sure this is part of it (among everything else you do right).

Miguel

[William Dickson]

The green colour of the head is just awesome

[Grace Scalzo]

Such a hard subject....so glad you found a cooperative one and made this opportunity yours. Love everything about it, Daniel, in fact, have come back to this one a couple times to enjoy it.

[Randall Farhy]

Great color, detail and tone range. This has just the right amount of oof foreground water to make it pop. Kudos for being in the right place at the right time, this series is a real treat!

[Satish Ranadive]

Daniel Sir,
Excellent moment captured. Love the water curtain below the beak. Rest is as usual wonderful.

Regards,
Satish.

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful portrait, great details and eye contact.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

This is beautiful, Dan. This species is high on my most wanted list. Exposed perfectly and just love the water curtain. I'd clone the oof drop just below the bill to the left and would also clone the dark spot in the curtain (also just below the bill). But that's just nitpicking.

[arash_hazeghi]

This is great Dan, love the water film between his beak and chest